Eskom securing five-year coal supply deal with Vunene

Camden power station “’ will receive its coal from Vunene MiningJohannesburg, South Africa — ESI-AFRICA.COM — 07 April 2011 – South African power utility Eskom says it is in talks with Vunene Mining to secure a five-year coal supply deal for its Camden power station.

Spokeswoman Hilary Joffe said Vunene had supplied Eskom with around 30,000t of coal in recent months as part of a test phase.

“We’ve been in talks for a while with Vunene on a five-year supply contract,” said Joffe, but she declined to give a date by which the company would like to finalise the deal.

Eskom supplies around 95% of South Africa’s electricity, most of which is generated from coal.Vunene holds the mining rights for Usutu colliery, which is linked by a conveyor belt to the once-mothballed Camden power station.

The mining rights previously belonged to Eskom, but the state-owned utility failed to convert the right to a new mining right as required by law.

Joffe declined to comment on whether Eskom was interested in again securing the mining rights for Usutu, but said the utility was “engaging with the department of mineral resources” regarding the colliery. She gave no further details.

“Our priority is to secure supplies of coal for all our power stations at a cost that South Africa can afford,” she said.